Farnaz Fassihi

Like the revolution court.

today was attacked.

And this is a court that's highly notorious that tried and prosecuted political cases and dissidents.

They attacked the state broadcasting, which is a tool of propaganda.

And they also went after two military bases belonging to the Revolutionary Guards and their underlings, Basij, the volunteer plainclothes militia that we see shooting and killing and beating protesters.

And they decimated those two bases.

So there is some evidence, at least, that the target is widening.

And it certainly seems that the goal of the United States and Israel is to facilitate regime change on the ground.

It's interesting you bring up Venezuela because Iranian sources were telling me that one of the conversations they're having in private about succession and about planning amongst themselves is the question of who will be the Delsey of Iran, referring to Venezuela's vice president, Erdogan.

And some of the names that have come up are technocrats and former generals of the Revolutionary Guards who are sort of seen as centrists, pragmatists, people who maybe would be open to a change of course.

One of the names is Ali Larajani, the head of the National Security Council, who's effectively running the country right now.

General Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guards commander, who's the Speaker of the Parliament and has a role in commanding the war now.

He's also one of the names that I have heard.

I've also heard the name of former President Hassan Rouhani, who's kind of a moderate.

cleric, but he's sort of been outcast from the close circle of Mr. Khamenei.

So these are some of the names I've heard.

But I want to mention here that for that 80 percent who want wholesome change and for the opposition and dissidents, no figure that is associated with the Islamic Republic's regime is going to be acceptable because every single one of these people was part of

Right.

Mm-hmm.

civil war and would rather engage with someone from that system that would be willing to make concessions or not.